One Bond to rule them all.
So with Keaton becoming Batman again in The Flash;
And Sam Hamm returning for this;
I’m thinking AT&T really missed Tim Burton’s Batman
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Hey, nostalgia par excellence for me!
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That is some… HUGE PRAISE! (say it in the Cage voice…)
Just to explain this joke…
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Ha! Now, um, I assume he would not have stayed with that hair (I hope?). But from what I understand what Tim Burton was aiming to do (the Brainiac story?) it certainly would have been interesting.
I love Nicolas Cage, of course. But I would not have cast him as Superman at first glance. Then again, he has that lonely, unique quality which could have worked very well.
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Since the Cage has highjacked this thread I highly recommend his wonderful tragicomedy THE WEATHER MAN, my go-to feel good movie when I‘m feeling down.
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Vampires kiss is mine
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I haven’t really understood it either, aside from people wanting to see if the original take on Justice League was better than what Joss Whedon brought to the screen. To be honest, it wouldn’t take much effort to top Whedon’s attempt, so while I’ve always had fairly low expectations for whatever Snyder was cooking up for a follow-up to Batman v Superman, it almost certainly has to be better than the theatrical cut.
I’m no fan of Snyder, I think anyone whose been around here long enough knows that. The only thing that he’s done that’s worthwhile, IMO, is Dawn of the Dead, which was a good film. But that’s been ages since it was released and it’s been a steady stream of mediocrity coming from him since.
That said, however, I must admit that I’m more interested in Zack Snyder’s Justice League than I thought I would be. I think it’s mostly down to liking the cast, or more specifically, Ben Affleck as Batman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Affleck’s brought us a version of Batman that I’m far more interested in than what we typically get from our theatrical Batman. The hardened veteran Batman is, after endless amounts of time spent on a younger Batman and his origin throughout the various films, is a welcome change. Having this particular character seemingly ripped from The Dark Knight Returns is also rather cool, I think. I far prefer this to what we’ve seen so far from Matt Reeves’ The Batman, which taps into a younger Batman that will probably be more similar to the Year One version than anything else.
The main thing that I would hope to get out of this whole exercise would be for them to continue on with the DCEU, so that, perhaps just maybe, we might get to see whatever it was that Ben Affleck had in store for us for his version of The Batman. The idea of an Affleck-directed Batman film was very appealing to me and, while certainly a longshot, if this exercise is a success maybe we might get to see Affleck and the rest of the gang continue on in further adventures rather than the whole thing ending with a rather unceremonious thud like things did with the theatrical cut and its immediate aftermath.
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And that’s part of my problem, I have no love for Affleck’s Batman. No hate either, just ambivalence. I skipped Batman V Superman (I still have no desire to watch it) so have no connection to the character. I hear he was good but I’m not sitting through a film I know I’ll hate just to see that performance.
Truth be told I can’t muster up much excitement for The Batman either. Looks just like they’re trying to push the ‘grounded’ take even further than Nolan’s. Can’t see myself getting excited for Batman again unless there’s a reasonable break or a very different approach.
I’m in the minority for disliking the Mandalorian (series 2) and became very disheartened about the future of Star Wars. It seemed to suggest the future would be nothing but spin-offs to spin-offs and prequels to prequels. But Johnson’s proposed trilogy interested me. More than anyone else who worked on Disney-era he seems to want to move things forward and break away from the old cycles. We’re getting something set post Rise of Skywalker and right now that’s the time period I most want to see explored.
Between Johnson and Taika Waititi maybe I can get excited about Star Wars again…
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I was excited about it until I saw the trailer. I will say that the Riddler looks like a potential standout in the film, but aside from that, the whole thing was the definition of meh. Between the contents of the trailer and just plain being bored with the continued focus on Batman’s origins and his early years, combined with how overrated I find Matt Reeves, I just find myself not really caring.
On the other hand, there were some decent pitch ideas for Affleck’s version floating around out there that seemed much more interesting. Granted, it would have still had to have taken some direction from Snyder, as it would have taken place within the universe he was creating, but having a filmmaker like Affleck behind the camera as well would have negated, I think, a lot of the issues that I have with the Snyder films and would have set up that version of Batman for some success, I think.
Thinking about it I have trouble to pick a really memorable storyline for any Batman apart from Nolan’s self-contained version. Burton’s was visually and atmospheric and had a certain ‘magic’ to it. But from then onwards little springs to mind that I would call even interesting.
Affleck’s Batman, what I have seen of it, made me even feel he was more interesting out of his costume. I used to think he got the part ten years too late - but maybe I’m wrong and he should give it another try in five or ten years.
Paul Dano was a really solid choice for the Riddler, so it at least has that going for it.
But yeah, could do without another early years story. It’s the problem with the constant reboot cycle, we get constantly stuck at the beginnings of Batman’s career. And can they finally acknowledge the existence of Robin(s) and Batgirl?
I’ve been revisiting Batman TAS recently and there have been some great stroylines there. There are some many great villains and stories that remain untouched by filmmakers.
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It’s because the focus of the Batman films is generally on things other than Batman himself. In the Burton and Schumacher films, the focus was on the villains. At times, the actor playing Batman wasn’t even the headliner in his own film (Nicholson got top billing for Batman and Schwarzenegger got it for Batman and Robin), and what happens in all four of those films is driven entirely by the villains with Batman there as a purely reactionary device.
Then you have the Snyder films where the only focus on Batman is in his ability to bring the team together. It’s not ever about just Batman, but rather how he’s mainly there was the catalyst to bring Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg together. Nolan’s films are the only time where Batman actually is a focal point of the films, which is why there isn’t any truly memorable cinematic storyline for Batman, aside from Nolan.
I think that could have changed with a continued DCEU in which Affleck was able to chart the course for Batman’s future. An older Batman, far removed from having to deal with his origins and his early years, at this point is far more interesting. Having that first film with a potential showdown between him and Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke could have been quite interesting. There was also some talk about a film set within Arkham, which could have been interesting as well.
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This.
What about Batman just doing his thing without slicing his behaviour through the analyst’s tools? This is something I feel the competitors handled with much more verve (though some kind of ‘motivation’ is usually given in context but not as the central plot device). Batman may have started out with questionable motives. But he’s just good at what he does and has for many years just enjoyed doing it.
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So true in so many ways.
But this is the template for male heroes for at least the last 20 years. Makes one long for the anti-hero males of 1970’s cinema. Travis Bickle just was. The addition of the analyst’s couch has kneecapped movies.
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